Inside the Indian consumer's mind - How will purchase behaviour shape-up in a post-COVID world report

Hansa Cequity, a leading Indian customer data analytics and mar-tech firm, part of the RK SWAMY HANSA Group, has released a research report Inside the Indian Consumer's mind - How will purchase behaviour shape-up in a post-COVID world.

How will purchase behaviours of Indian consumers change in a post-COVID world?

These are unprecedented times as billions around the world are staying in, and, as a result, markets and economies are struggling to hold their ground. On one hand, in just a matter of months, consumers around the globe have started to accept the uncertainty of a rapidly changing situation.

Compes and marketers in India are seeking directions or early indications to the following questions:

1. Will consumers focus on saving and investing more than spending?

2. Will social distancing stay for good, for services and products that do not require a human-to-human connect?

3. Will urban and non-metro consumers in India be as well-versed with online shopping as they are with social media and messaging?

4. Will the trend towards better health and well-being intensify and influence customer expectations from all firms they transact with?

5. Will the trend of e-commerce eating into brick-and-mortar sales pick up a higher gear?

This study attempts to understand the underlying purchase behaviour and intentions of Indian consumers on what are the key needs that are top-of-their mind and how do they see themselves allocating their share of wallet against these needs.

It also tries to uncover how will they spend across twelve different need categories like health, transportation, financial investments, fashion, lifestyle, entertainment, housing and the like?

Also, how do Indian consumers perceive and see their timeline on return to normalcy of their spending and their confidence in things getting back? Also, it tries to decipher how will Indian consumers spend between offline and online for these needs?

Key findings of the report

1. Compared to pre-COVID-19 period, Indian consumers' focus on health, grocery & household items and security will increase the most.

2. For nine out of 12 need categories, consumers expect normalcy in online spends to return sooner than offline spends.

3. Across need categories, 64 per cent consumers are open to transact with new brands, providing opportunities for brands to gain share from the competition, if they are proactive and focus on the convenience needs of Indian consumers.

4. About 74 per cent expect support from firms they transact within form of 'easy finance options.'

5. 66 per cent are confident/very confident that their lives will return to normalcy within six months once the COVID crisis is over, while only 37 per cent expect it in a month. Almost 80 per cent are confident that the return to normalcy will happen within one year.

"The study provides some interesting findings on categories like transportation and housing on what seems to be going through their minds when it comes to purchasing these categories. It gives a lovely hue on differences in expected purchase behaviour between metro & non-metro consumers. Increasingly, digital & data-driven marketing will take centre stage in many categories across a consumers' lifecycle like before," said Neeraj Pratap, COO, Hansa Cequity.

As Unlock 4.0 gets underway across India and consumers start getting out of their homes, how will the consumer purchase pattern and behaviour change in the short and long run as a consequence, and how orgzations will be required to change the way they market their brands will become critical to their growth.

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( With inputs from ANI )